The title is mostly due to having seen three or four other blog posts simultaneously making this joke. It had popped into my mind too :-)

In case folks hadn't seen yet, Google (as everyone had
expected with bated breath) announced the open sourcing of VP8
today as part of the WebM project. WebM combines a Vorbis
audio stream and a VP8 video stream into a Matroska container for
use in web video. Then there are a whole lot of other tiny project details
like garnering industry support.

Yes, we've actually known for a little while this would be
happening. Google is moving quite fast after having their On2
purchase plans delayed several months. We'll have a press release
up soon expressing support in drier language, though it's mostly
an exercise in formality since everyone already knows our position.

Now that I'm actually allowed to talk about it, the important
bits to take away are:

Of *course* we (Xiph) support WebM. This is great news for
open source, open media, and our own plans at Xiph count on WebM
succeeding. How good the WebM news turns out to be depends on
what we make it.

Vorbis is part of WebM and will probably see a new uptick in
active development. WebM doesn't immediately affect
Theora (development of Theora continues along with VP8), but
that's vaguely irrelevant. The good of unencumbered media is the
point, not Theora or Vorbis or Ogg or any specific piece of
software. We're after a fundamental change to the business and
social environment. Software and software advocacy happens to be
the tool Xiph uses to effect change.

Open media is obviously philosophically 'clean' and good for
the public and good for social transparency. It's even better
for business. Business makes good money on the Web using Open
technologies. In fact, these are the only technologies that have
seen sustained success online. We fully expect that pattern to
hold.

Xiph has been locked in a political battle with a large
monopoly power for years now, and a political fight is not what
Xiph.Org is good at or built for. We're built to research and
develop media software. This announcement gives us breathing
room to get back our primary long term goal: leapfrogging the
proprietary competition. We don't want to be as good, we always
want to be better.